DIRECTING
DIVINITIES

Tim
Russ explains how he ended up on both sides of the camera in the most recent
internet fan film, "Of Gods and Men"...

Interview
by Ian Spelling

"It's coming together about ten times better than anticipated."

"I
was just sitting around one day and the phone rang," former Start Trek:
Voyager star Tim Russ says, explaining how he came to direct and co-star in Star
Trek: Of Gods and Men, the upcoming three-part mini-series webisode that
features a dozen Star Trek favorites, many of them reprising their
legendary roles. "It was [producer] Doug Conway who said he had a project
he wanted to do. He was asking if I would be interested in playing a role in it,
and I said I would if I could direct it as well. Since there was no one attached
and I had already directed Roddenberry on Patrol, he thought that would
be a good idea."

Russ
plays coy when asked to describe the Of Gods and Men story, which was
penned by Conway in collaboration with freelance Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
scribes Jack Trevino and Ethan H. Calk. Trevino received "story by"
credits on Little Green Men and Indiscretion, while Calk received
"story by" credits on Children of Time and Visionary.
"Well, I can't really give away the story, and everyone always asks that
question!" Russ says. "Let's just say it features cast members from
several of the Trek series and it will not be a prequel. I can say that
it does tackle current issues, like terrorism, and the reason why some people
choose that direction. And I can say that many of the characters from Star
Trek that are featured in the story are either not playing themselves, or
they are playing dual roles."

The
casting is nothing if not remarkable. There's Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols,
Grace Lee Whitney, all from the original Star Trek series. Former ST:VOY
regulars Ethan Phillips and Garrett Wang reunite with their old pal Russ. And
then there's Alan Ruck, who played Captain HArriman in Star Trek Generations,
ST:DS9's Cirroc Lofton, Chase Masterson and J.G. Hertzler. Finally, look for
Trek guest stars Celeste Yarnall, Arlene Martel, Gary Graham, Jack Donner and
Crystal Allen. "My jaw dropped when I saw some of the performances,"
Russ enthuses. "This story has a lot of emotional moments There were
differences of opinions and some arguments here and there over dialogue and who
was going to say what, but that sort of goes with the territory. Everyone
delivered, and that's the main thing. Acting in it myself (as Tuvok), that was
distracting for the most part. During moments when my character wasn't speaking
for a particular length of time, I sometimes had to stop myself from listening
to or watching the scene while I was acting in the scene."

Russ,
as his many fans know, is no stranger to directing. He revealed early on in ST:VOY's
run that he hoped to step behind the camera and he did so with the fourth season
episode Living Witness, after a long prep period during which he shadowed
several of the show's regular directors. Russ also directed The Heartbreak
Café, The FBI Files, the short films Eye of the Beholder, Déjà
Vu and the upcoming After Market (which may be retitled Plugged),
as well as the aforementioned feature Roddenberry on Patrol. Asked how
his previous experiences as a director carried over into Of Gods and Men,
Russ replies, "The best experience I could have going into this was having
worked on other projects without much prep, if any. I didn't see the sets until
the day before I was to start shooting. But in this case I was aware of what the
sets would look like pretty much before I got there. The first part of the shoot
was very difficult because there was no proper production management on the
ground prior to shooting, and hte location was on the East Coast. There were
several departments that either were not prepared or simply didn't exist. If
some key people who just happened to come along for the ride didn't pitch in, we
wouldn't have had a film to talk about. That plus the logistical problems, the
heat, the bugs and the noisy sound stage made everything just wonderful. But
it's coming together about 10 times better than I anticipated. It looks amazing,
again because of the expertise of a few key people in the right place at the
right time."

Actually,
it could be said that Russ is in the right place at the right time, too. He's
been directing online enterprises for a long while now and, he notes, projects
like Of Gods and Men and the assorted Star Trek stories realized
under the New Voyages banner are soon to be standard operating procedure
within the entertainment industry. "They are doing what all of the networks
and studios are just now gearing up to do," Russ says of his producers.
"It's the way we will all be watching movies and TV shows in the very near
future. There are no duplication or printing costs and no inventory to deal
with. It's much cheaper to distribute that way."

Switching
gears, Russ has kept busy on several other fronts as well over the past year or
two. On the short-lived John Lithgow-Jeffrey Tambor sitcom Twenty Good Years
he played the recurring character of Marty, "a stiff-shirt, paper-pushing,
by the book hospital administrator who has no sense of humor," and did his
best to make life miserable for Lithgow's character, a surgeon. "Marty was
as much a stiff shirt as Tuvok was," Russ says. "My character's humor
is dry for the most part. And I really liked working on a sitcom. The challenges
are different, because you end up doing a live audience performance, and the
lines change often, right up to and including tape day." Russ also turned
up in the indie film The OH in Ohio with Mischa Barton, Paul Rudd and
Danny DeVito; an episode each of the popular series ER, Navy NCIS,
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Without a Trace; and even
several episodes of the soap opera General Hospital. "My agent put
that together for me one day out of the blue," Russ recalls. "He
called and asked me if I would be interested in playing a recurring role on that
show. I didn't even read for it. It was planned as just a money gig, to keep me
busy between other jobs. I think the directing has been the most challenging and
interesting work for me. The creativ epalette is mcuh broader when working from
the perspective of a director." Meanwhile, over on the music end of the
spectrum, the acocmplished singer-songwriter-musician stilll fronts his own trio
and still plays the blues with another group, Disciples of Redemption. "I
may record some new tunes soon," Russ reveals. "Those will most likely
be available via download [from his website, timrusswebpage.com]."

"My jaw dropped when I saw some of the performances."

Hearing
Russ speak now, it's hard to believe that it's been well over a decade since
Russ first donned Tuvok's Vulcan ears on ST:VOY, for the Caretaker
pilot that launched the show's seven-year run. Russ - who prior to ST:VOY
appeared in Star Trek Generations and had guest starred on both Star
Trek: The Next Generation and ST:DS9 - admits it boggles his mind as
well. "The years I spent doing Voyager seem like another lifetime
ago," he says and the conversation draws to a close for now. "But
lately I've come to realize and accept that I will always somehow, some way, be
associated with that show. The Voyager experience was really a godsend
for my career went. It opened up so many doors that I might have never had a
chance to get through. I also enjoyed the fringe benefits of being on the show,
the increase in income, job security for that time and the travel. I, of course,
would do it again if I had the chance to do it all over."